Speedway icon on home track
Kiwi speedway legend Ivan Mauger’s ashes have been returned to Christchurch. Mat Kermeen reports.
The chequered flag has fallen on record-breaking speedway champion and ‘‘ordinary guy’’ Ivan Mauger’s final lap. Mauger, who died on April 16, aged 78, last year on the Gold Coast, spent much of his life spread between the United Kingdom and Australia but it was always the proud Cantabrian’s wish to have his ashes returned to Christchurch.
The Christchurch-born and raised Mauger, who dominated the speedway world as nobody did before, or will again, has ‘‘come home’’ to rest just a 10-minute drive from where his history-making career first sped into gear at Aranui Speedway.
At a private ceremony in Woolston Cemetery yesterday, Mauger’s ashes – covered in black and white chequers with a red and black ribbon on either side – were lowered into the ground alongside his parents Edwin and Alice, as was his final wish.
Mauger’s wife Raye and their children Julie, Kym and Debbie were present to celebrate the incredible life of the Kiwi sporting hero they knew as a husband and father.
Mauger had suffered from Alzheimers for several years before his death – a period that was tough on him and those closest to him.
He always held a spiritual connection with the eastern side of Christchurch. Especially Woolston, where he grew up, and Aranui. When living out his retirement years on the Gold Coast, Mauger even named his boat Aranui.
His final resting place is just a short blip of the throttle from where his dream of becoming a champion speedway rider was first hatched as a child in Woolston.
Widely regarded as the best speedway rider the world has ever seen, whatever superlative used to describe Mauger never did him justice.
For those who got to speak to him face-to-face, Mauger was always a humble champion – a people’s champion.
Despite his worldwide fame, Raye Mauger said her late husband never understood what a hero he was to so many people around the globe.
‘‘When people came up and talked to him in the street he would chat away because that’s just how he was,’’ she told Stuff.
Mauger was a flamboyant character on the track but in his retirement, it was the simple pleasures that he craved.
‘‘He was just an ordinary guy,’’ Raye said.
She explained Mauger was most happy surrounded by family, in his jeans watching rugby, or in the pool.
‘‘He was quite reserved when he was away from speedway.
‘‘His conversation was speedway and family. He was never politically minded or anything like that,’’ she said.
Mauger followed on from the extraordinary feats of fellow Christchurch riders and world champions Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore.
He won six world titles (1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977 and 1979). Such was his dominance, he was third in 1967, and runner-up in 1971, 1973 and 1974.
He also won three world long track championships (1971, 1972 and 1976) and set a number of long track records.
Long before names like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter obtained celebrity status in Christchurch, Mauger, Moore and Briggs were more rockstars than speedway riders.
Not that Mauger will have minded McCaw and Carter’s stardom. A promising rugby player in his youth, Mauger was mad on the Crusaders until the end.
Mauger first fell in love with speedway as a child when his parents took him to watch. It was a fascination that grew into a lifelong obsession.
Once Mauger had a goal in mind he was able to make it happen with his dogged determination – a trait said to come from his mother.
As big as the name Ivan Mauger was in New Zealand, it was in Europe where his star really took off. Speedway was huge there and Mauger was a household name.
But Mauger was always proud to be a Kiwi. In amongst his ashes was a small New Zealand flag.
‘‘He was very patriotic,’’ Raye said.
In his retirement, Mauger taught himself how to use the computer and took a major role in his autobiography Ivan Mauger: The Will To Win, written with Martin Rogers.
Mauger, who carried the Olympic torch at the Sydney Games in 2000, began his career in 1955 – in the middle of a speedway boom that has never been matched in Canterbury.
Crowds in excess of 14,000 were par for the Aranui course – that is now covered in brick and weatherboard 1960s housing behind St James School.
Mauger retired in 1985 but went on to become a world-class promoter and mentored the careers of many young riders.
His legacy as a sporting sensation and Canterbury icon lives on through the Ivan Mauger Speedway King exhibition at Canterbury Museum.
Mauger was recognised with an MBE in 1975 and an OBE in 1989. He was New Zealand Sportsman of the Year in 1977 and 1979.